SAN DIEGO — A rally will be held Saturday, Dec. 17, from 3 to 5 pm which will be held at the San Diego Civic Center at Third and B streets, in support of the release of openly gay Bradley Manning, who was imprisoned on July 29, 2010, after being accused of releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks.

On the 17th of December – his 24th birthday – Bradley Manning will have been incarcerated for 571 days.

The documents consist of video of U.S. Apache helicopter crew in New Baghdad opening fire on innocent people, including two employees of Reuters and two children. It caused an international backlash against America’s foreign wars.

To protest the charges against Manning, for which he faces the possibility of the death penalty, the group organizing the rally plans to display colorful posters and signs in support of international democracy, government accountability and the humane treatment of prisoners.

Michael Anderson, one of the rally’s organizers, says that the goal of the event is to raise awareness about the U.S. military’s attempts to suppress a whistleblower.

The Bradley Manning Support Network will host similar events across the nation this weekend, including a vigil Friday and rally Saturday outside of Fort Meade, Maryland. Manning is scheduled to attend an Article 32 pretrial hearing Friday, his first appearance before a court and the first time he will face his accusers after 17 months in confinement.

For more information about the San Diego rally, which will be held at the San Diego Civic Center at Third and B streets, contact Anderson at (954) 648-1984 or paranoid4areason@gmail.com.

We will meet at the San Diego Civic Center (at 3rd and B) at 3pm. We have speakers lined up and after we hear from our speakers we will head 6 blocks north to put banners over the freeway fence.

Speakers Include:

Majorie Cohen,

Joshua Funn,

Will Williams, &

Michael Anderson. (speakers list to be updated, I believe I’m missing one from our list, ooops)

On this day stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning – congregate at the White House, Ft. Leavenworth Kansas, your city hall or town square, or your nearest US Embassy or Consulate.

Bradley Manning was arrested on May 26, 2010, and held at first in a military jail at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

On July 29, 2010, Manning was moved from Kuwait to the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and classified as a “maximum custody detainee” held under a “Prevention of Injury” assignment.

A “Prevention of Injury” assignment entails checks by guards every five minutes, and no sleeping during the day. He was required to remain visible at all times, including at night, which entailed no access to sheets, no pillow except one built into his mattress, and a blanket designed not to be shredded.

On April 20, 2011 Bradley Manning was transferred to the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and the prevention-of-injury order was lifted

United States v. Bradley Manning –

Bradley Manning faces 34 Charges including:

– Failure to obey a lawful order or regulation

– Modifying or installing unauthorized software to a system, using it for ‘unintended’ purposes.

– Circumventing security mechanisms

– Improper storage of Classified Information

– Embezzlement and Theft of Public Money, Property or Records.

– As an ‘unauthorized person’ taking ‘national defense’ information and either ‘retaining’ it or delivering it to ‘persons not entitled to receive it’.

and

– Aiding the enemy which carries a potential death penalty.

On his 24th birthday we shall congregate around the world and stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning.

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